Patent GB-657057-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in laundry machine tubs
IPC: D06F37/18
Filed: 1947-10-30
Abstract: 657,057. Washing-machines. APPLIANCE CORPORATION OF AMERICA. Oct. 30, 1947, No. 29037. Convention date, Oct. 31, 1946. [Class 138 (ii)] A laundry machine tub has a spherically curved upper portion formed with a top opening and a spherically curved door inside the tub, the door being supported from a slide bar, slidable longitudinally outside the tub so that it moves with the slide bar to open or close the opening. A spherical tub 2, Fig. 3, has a circular opening 3 formed with a lip 4 provided with two diametrically opposite apertures 6, 7. A spherically curved door 1, having a plurality of perforations 55, is mounted inside the tub and its marginal edge extends beyond the lower edge of the lip 4 when the door is in the closed position. The door is fixed to a post 18, non-rotatably mounted but vertically slidable in a bar 8, which is slidable through the apertures 6, 7 and is provided at its ends with flanges 9, 10. The slide bar 8 also passes through a bracket 11 secured, e.g. by welding, to the outside of the tub. The post 18, Fig. 5, is provided at its upper end with a pin 20 on which is pivotally straddled a handle 21 formed at its pivoted end with a cam 23. Disposed around the post between the slide bar and the door is a coiled compression spring 24. When the handle is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3, the cam 23 causes the post 18, Fig. 5, to be pulled upwardly to compress the spring 24 and tightly engage the marginal edge of the door with the inside surface of the tub. When the handle is moved to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the cam 23, Fig. 6, causes the post to move downwardly, the decompression of the spring, and movement of the door radially away from the inside surface of the tub. By lifting the handle, the flange 9 is made to disengage with the edge of the aperture 6 and the bar 8 can then be slide therethrough and also through the aperture 3 and the bracket 11, to open the door. In the closed position, further movement of the door is prevented by the flange 10 abutting the bracket 11. The perforations 55 allow for the passage of cleansing liquid from the tub during a washing operation, while a plurality of holes 5 is provided circumferentially around the bottom of the lip 4 where it joins the spherical surface of the tub to allow for the flow of liquid expressed from the tub when the door is closed. Specifications 654,832 and 657,046 are referred to. In a modification, Fig. 8, a slide bar 8a is formed as a cylindrical rod. The handle end of the rod has a groove 30, Fig. 9, in which are mounted a latch 32, pivoted at 33, and having an upturned end 34, and a leaf-spring 35, Fig. 8, disposed below the latch. The latch and leaf-spring pass through a slot provided in the post 18, which itself is non- rotatably mounted but vertically slidable in the rod. The slot is of sufficient depth to allow of upward and downward movement of the post. The other end of the rod passes through an apertured extension 25 on the lip 4 and is fitted at its end with a block 26 guidable on an arcuate rod 28, fixed at its upper end to the lip 4 and at its lower end on a projection on a flange 29 of the tub. In a further modification, Fig. 11, a cylindrical slide rod 8b has an enlarged end 36 apertured to receive the stem 39 of a handle 38. The stem is slidable vertically in the aperture, downward movement being limited by an enlargement 40 of the stem. The lower part of the stem passes through a block 43 secured between lugs 42 fixed on the door 1, the securing means allow. ing for a small amount of rotary movement of the block. The lower end of the stem is recessed to receive a snap ring 46. Fixed around the stem 39 is a disc 47 having a hook 48 and a cam 50 projecting from diametricallyopposed edges of the disc. By turning the handle 38 the hook is made to engage with the outside edge of an aperture 49 in the lip 4 of the tub, and at the same time the cam rides up a complemental surface 54 provided on the lower end of a strap 51 fixed to the rod 8b, and thus causes the door to be tightly engaged with the inside surface of the tub.